Overview
- Google describes the effort as a long-term research moonshot exploring whether near-continuous sunlight in a dawn–dusk low Earth orbit can power scalable AI compute with lower terrestrial impact.
- The concept envisions compact constellations of satellites with Google TPUs linked by free-space optical beams to function as a high-bandwidth distributed data center, requiring formations within about a kilometer.
- Ground tests on Trillium v6e TPUs reported no hard failures up to a total ionizing dose of 15 krad(Si), indicating encouraging radiation resilience for multi‑year missions.
- Key challenges remain, including thermal management in vacuum, achieving tens‑of‑terabits inter‑satellite links, tight formation flying and collision avoidance, and overall on‑orbit reliability.
- Google’s cost model suggests space systems might approach parity with terrestrial facilities only by the mid‑2030s if launch prices drop below roughly $200/kg, as public reactions highlighted by an Elon Musk–Sundar Pichai exchange underscored the role of reusable rockets.